Don't listen to those who shout loudest when it comes to the economics of Brexit

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From the Treasury's 2016 efforts, to Whitehall studies leaked this earlier year, misconceptions about economic forecasting continue to prevail in the Brexit debateCredit:
LUKE MACGREGOR/Telegraph

With less than a year to go before the UK formally leaves the EU, rather than dying down, anxiety about the impact on the British economy seems to be hotting up – at least in official circles.

Last week the House of Commons committee on exiting the EU published a report on the future UK-EU relationship. It was very gloomy and Hilary Benn, the committee’s chairman, said that we should prepare for “a worst-case scenario” in which the UK leaves without a deal.

As anticipated, the report made much of the cross-Whitehall briefing on the impact of Brexit on the British economy, whose central findings were leaked in January. This study concluded that in all scenarios – or at least in the three that...